Planting Seeds

We are moving forward with our project, and have two potential schools that are interested in our program. We still need a more detailed curriculum, and after a meeting with Sue Sachs of the education department here at Barnard, we believe we may have to truncate our curriculum and perhaps only select one of the five topics we had planned.
We would really like to go on a field trip with the students, and Sue Sachs made it seem more than possible that we could get permission to do so. Going to a green market (in Union Square) or even our small street market on Broadway every Thursday would be interesting. She suggested sending the kids around to interview farmers, in pairs. I think that would be the most rewarding, actually talking to the people who are doing what we are trying to teach about. It shows very much the connections between humans and the environment, which is what we are trying to emphasize with our project.
In class we have discussed our culture's lack of that deep connection with the natural world. Our separation from green spaces, living in an urban environment, adds to that disconnect. But I don't think that means that we should all move out to the open spaces left in the country. I think it means we should reflect more, think more, and wonder more. We can only change ourselves and I think that our discussions in class are really helping each other to think differently and critically about various environmental issues I'm sure we have all contemplated before. Talking to each other, having conversation about things that matter to us, is such a big part of our life experience, as the book Turning to One Another (I think that's what it was called) said. I hope to gain a wider perspective through our sadly short classes and to deepen my understanding of myself, my fellow classmates, the environment, and how we are all connected.